Parent Training for the Treatment of Oppositional Behavior in Young Children: Helping the Noncompliant Child

Abstract

Noncompliance (i.e., excessive disobedience to adults) is consistently reported to be the most prevalent behavior problem for clinic-referred and non-referred “normal” children alike, and is currently viewed as a keystone behavior in the development and maintenance of conduct disorders. “Helping the Noncompliant Child” (HNC) (Forehand & McMahon, 1981; McMahon & Forehand, 2003) is based on a parent training program originally developed by Hanf at the University of Oregon Medical School in the late 1960s (e.g., Hanf & Kling, 1973) to treat noncompliance in young (3–8 years of age) children with a range of developmental disabilities (see Reitman & McMahon, 2010). While several independent groups of clinical researchers have adapted Hanf’s original program, the adaptation by the current authors (Forehand & McMahon, 1981; McMahon & Forehand, 2003) is one of the most formally operationalized and evaluated versions of this approach to working with young children with conduct problems. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a description of the theoretical assumptions that underlie HNC, an overview of the program, and a summary of its empirical support. We also provide a description of a typical HNC case, and conclude with remarks concerning future directions.

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